This week marks the arrival of the new season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.”
Among the fresh batch of celebrities to undergo the grueling military-style training that has made the show a reality TV hit are Candace Cameron Bure.
Ahead of tonight’s season premiere, Cameron Bure got candid about how difficult she found the show — revealing she was even ready to pack it in.
‘Exciting, But Brutal’
In a candid sitdown with Us Weekly, Cameron Bure revealed just how close she came to exiting “Special Forces.”
“I was ready to quit the show. Like, I was ready to quit. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to keep going,’” Cameron Bure she told the outlet. “It was physically the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life — and yet it was exciting, but brutal.”
However, she dug deep and found the intestinal fortitude to keep going.
“In retrospect — now that I’m not there in the jungle — I’m so glad I participated, said yes and showed up. I’m really proud of myself for that,” she recalled. “But it was really hard — physically and mentally — and you learn a whole lot about yourself, particularly your weaknesses.”
‘I Cried a Whole Lot’
FOX“I don’t know if there’s any preparation. I’ll just tell you, I’m a big crybaby. Also being in perimenopause, your hormones are all over the place. I think that it truly was another reason why I wanted to do it because I was going in hoping I would inspire other women my age going through that,” Cameron Bure explained.
“Because sometimes you just don’t even feel like yourself. You don’t feel like you’re in your right mind and it’s just a matter of hormone balance,” she continued.
“Especially in public, on television. I don’t even know what we’re gonna watch back. I might be cowering and so embarrassed to see what’s gonna happen. I don’t really know,” she shared. “But those interrogations, they were actually scary. I didn’t know the Directing Staff well, and they have such a presence and they are really all beautiful people. But in the moment, you’re in this fight or flight stage, and it’s just scary. So I cried a whole lot.”
Her Biggest Takeaway
FOX“My biggest takeaway was that I was not as good of a teammate as I hoped I would be. You are fighting for your life out there and when you get put in those situations, it’s fight or flight. You either stand up to it or you want to run. That’s the emotional reaction that most people have,” she told Us Weekly.
“I realize, like, I’m a flyer. Yet you have other people to care for, and that’s where I got really disappointed with myself that I let my fear get the best of me, but that also meant not just for me, but for the other people that I was with,” she added.
“So I came home from the experience having learned that I could be a better teammate and just apply that to life. I could apply that at home with my husband, as a mom to my kids and as a friend to my friends’ relationships. So, I’m glad that I did the show,” Cameron Bure admitted.
FOX“I just turned 50, and this was the year of saying yes. I really do say yes to the things that scare me in life, the things that I’m fearful about. That was like saying yes to ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and even yes to ‘The Masked Singer’ — those are the only two reality shows I’ve ever done before,” she detailed.
“And I’ve watched ‘Special Forces’ seasons in the past, and I’ve always liked the show. But I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I would ever do that if I got the offer, because it’s really terrifying the things that they do.’ So the offer came, and I’ve just been on really a fitness and health journey for the last year and a half,” she said.
“I really wanted to prepare [for] this next decade of my life and turning 50 and being in perimenopause. I think all of those things added up,” she noted. “And I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna say yes to this and actually see if I’ve got what it takes, and really push myself to the limits of whatever that is.’ I don’t know what my limits are, so that’s why I did the show. I just kind of wanted to see what I was capable of.”
The fifth season of “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” premieres on Thursday, September 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
